Emergence

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  He looked at me like I was weird. “I thought you were kidding when you called it a date.”

  “Oh, that was definitely our first date. The best too. Nothing like pounding in faces with the person you like at your back.”

  “Did I mention you’re kind of crazy?” He didn’t look upset. In fact, he was smiling, his eyes alight with amazement.

  “If a guy can’t hold up in a fight, then he’s useless. So that was our first date, and the best one. I really do love a good fight.”

  He nodded and grabbed my hands, pulling me into his chest. He tucked his face into my neck, his hot breath dancing along my skin. I sighed, feeling so right with him.

  “And this date?”

  “The perfect second date. I know you can kick ass, and now I know you can also be sweet.”

  We were swaying to the beat I set. His lips pressed against my skin, sending a shiver down my body. I gripped him harder as he opened his mouth and bit at my neck, right where my vein was, just underneath the surface. I moaned, loving the mixture of pain and pleasure he created within me. He didn’t go far enough to break skin, just enough to leave a mark.

  Claiming me.

  I usually hated when men marked me. I wasn’t anyone’s, but I didn’t mind Landus doing it. In fact, it felt right. I turned my face and kissed his chin, then his neck, right where my still healing bites were. His body shuddered when I put my lips against my marks, and I smiled against his skin. He turned his head until our lips met, and we made out, just swaying to the beat within my head. It was as if he could hear what I heard. His touch was so sweet and gentle, and I craved it as his fingers skimmed along my arm, and then down to my waist. He lifted my shirt, and I shivered as his energy mingled with mine. Our energies fit so well together.

  We stayed in each other’s arms for a long time until I sighed and put some distance between us. If this kept up we were going to have sex, but now was not the time.

  “We should get going before the humans try to send someone through to check up on us.”

  “I like it here,” Landus said, his voice gruff. I loved knowing I made him sound like that.

  “If they decide to keep the gate up, we should sneak back through. Hopefully they don’t ruin this place.”

  “You think they will?”

  “They’re humans. They don’t appreciate nature like we do. They are more interested in technology and building things. They might not be able to do the job themselves but they will find someone willing to do it for them. They’ll try to turn this place into some kind of special, private resort.”

  “You know, someday, I want to learn why you have such a low opinions of humans. They aren’t all bad.”

  I smiled sadly. “I know that. If they were all bad, I wouldn’t do requests for them.”

  We walked slowly back to the gate, neither of us ready to go back to our little city.

  When we went back through the gate, I felt a loss, as if a small part of me stayed behind in that peaceful little world.

  “So?” Jordie was waiting for us, a book in her hand.

  I smiled sadly. “A beautiful place in the middle of the Woodlands filled with magic. I think the magic there keeps the beings away from the area, making it safe. It’s relaxing and peaceful there. Absolutely beautiful. Looks like it could be on the other side of Terra Firma because it was full night there.”

  She pursed her lips and thought about what I told her for a minute. “Thank you. I’ll talk with my friends and decide what we want to do, but if it is as you said, we might keep it.”

  I nodded. “Do whatever you want with it. I’ll send you a bill like normal.”

  “Thank you, Nyssa.”

  I went over and hugged her despite the awkwardness of initiating it myself. “No, thank you. I never felt like that before so it was a nice change.”

  After giving her another hug, I backed away. Landus waited by the door for me, and I joined him while Jordie turned back to the gate with a thoughtful expression.

  Landus dropped me back off at the coffee shop to grab my car and though the ride was silent, it was a pleasant silence. Comfortable.

  Safe.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I remember the feeling of the emptiness as it spread through my body. I stared down at another dead body and couldn’t even stir up the feeling of remorse. I felt nothing. I remember crouching down and checking his pockets. He had nothing useful, so I left.

  —Nyssa’s Journal

  It was official. We were in a heat wave. The sun pounded against my back, my T-shirt already soaked with sweat. I wore shorts and still wanted to strip down further. I hated summer time the most. You could only take off so much clothing, and still you’d be hot. At least with winter, I could pile on all the clothes and blankets I owned to get warm.

  But heat? It was everywhere and attacked without care. There was no getting away from it, even with air-conditioning; it seeped through the cracks of the house and fought against the cold air, slowly taking over no matter how hard the air-conditioner fought it.

  Stupid heat.

  Being naked didn’t even help. I tried when I was home.

  I complained about the heat, and I wasn’t even a human. The humans were probably baking or barricaded in their houses.

  I walked down the street, making my way back to the witches and to Cecil. After sitting for hours with her yesterday, I’d gone home and gotten some much needed sleep. The night was restless as I went back and forth between nightmares of Baron and dreams of Landus against my body. I woke up sore and somewhat twitchy. At least the wound Baron had given me was finally completely healed.

  Now the heat pounded itself against my damp skin. But that wasn’t what spiked up my anger. I knew this feeling, it was an uncomfortable tingling that ran across my skin, making me feel dirty.

  My muscles tensed, ready for a fight as I turned with a glare to the man giving me the creeps.

  Baron.

  The hot rage within me unwound itself, and my lips curled up into a snarl. If I didn’t know for a fact that I wasn’t a shifter, I would’ve thought my beast was about to make a break for it to tear him up. My fingers curled into wanna-be claws as I imagined gouging his eyeballs out from their sockets, then shoving them up his ass for a nice view of his bullshit.

  He approached slowly, his body falsely relaxed, but I didn’t find any weaknesses. He was ready to defend if he needed to. His gait was confident, and I really wanted to swipe his feet from underneath him and watch him fall to the ground. Or he could at least trip and fall flat on his face. That would be cool too.

  Instead, he walked until he was just out of my reach and smiled, his eyes alight with amusement. The shadows in them were dark, practically black with anger. The color itself was a dull blue, as if he’d been beaten down too many times, but the hardness negated some of it. A dark deadness sat deep within his eyes saying he had survived the beat downs life gave him, but only just. Like me. We were both just barely surviving.

  No.

  Not like me.

  I would never lash out the way he had. His anger rolled into a ball of death that didn’t care what kind of chaos he created. In fact, he wanted to tear down everyone around him as a way to feel something. I would never do that. I had found my own outlets, and they were a lot less destructive.

  “Nyssa, fancy seeing you.”

  “Baron. What do you want?”

  He tilted his head to the side. “I just want to have a chat.” He nodded his head to the side, towards an empty bench, and turned away from me. He walked over and sat down while I still stood in the same spot.

  Moments passed as we just stared at each other until I let out a huff of irritation and joined him, keeping a good amount of space between us so two more could have sat between us.

  “Using a public place, smart,” I said. “Except not really. I couldn’t care less about what happens to these strangers.”

  “But you care about what happens to your witch friend, right
? What’s her name again? Cecil?”

  I gave him my best homicidal look, but he just glanced over and laughed. A wind blew past us, and I wasn’t sure if it was a natural one or the lack of control of my otherness. He leaned back, stretching his legs out in a fashion that looked completely comfortable and relaxed. I knew better.

  “I don’t want to fight you, and I know you don’t want anything to happen to her, right?” The gleam in his eyes told me he didn’t mind fighting with me again, but I read in between the lines. If I attacked him, he had something set up to ensure that Cecil would never open her eyes again.

  “Why are you here?”

  “Just want to talk.”

  I turned to him with fire in my eyes. “Maybe you should have thought of that before you attacked the witches and nearly killed my best friend. Cecil is fighting for her life because of you.”

  He didn’t say anything for a long while.

  “The witches, you’re friends with them?”

  “I’m friends with Cecil. You already know that.”

  “And the ’pires? The first time we met was through the gate I set up on the vampires’ property.”

  “Just a job.”

  “Hmm. What about the shifters?”

  “Job. The only person I care about is Cecil. And you nearly killed her.”

  He shrugged. “I’m just doing a job too. She’s simply a casualty of war.”

  The bastard had the balls to break out into a grin as he said that, and I nearly sprang at him but then remembered his underlying threat to Cecil.

  “So if I promise to not kill any more of your friends, you wouldn’t care?” he asked as he watched a family of five walk by. Parents and their young ones. Something in his look hardened, and as I studied the young family, I got it. He had no one. He didn’t have a family either. I despised being able to relate to him.

  “Why do you care who I care about?”

  He turned to look at me and give me his full attention. “I want you to join me.”

  I snapped my mouth shut. Join him? Help him with his revenge? Go against Landus and Slade and Cecil, and everyone else just because he was slighted.

  “Hell no.”

  “You aren’t a witch.”

  “Not even close.”

  “Definitely not a vampire.”

  “I like sucking face, not blood.”

  “Or a shifter.”

  “No fur on me,” I shrugged. “What is your point?”

  “Also not a mage.”

  “What do you have against all of them?”

  “My point is that you aren’t part of their group, so why do you care what happens to them? And they made me who I am. They all gave me a piece of them, and I’m simply using that against them.” His voice darkened with each word as his rage grew, bringing with it his madness. His energy snapped at the air, and I inched away from him. His eyes did that shifting thing, becoming green slits. That had to belong to the shifter piece.

  “Your men are weak. They break too easily.”

  He broke out in booming laughter, the kind that came from using all of his lungs and his vocal cords. The pedestrians around us stared at him as they walked by, but he didn’t give a shit.

  “Glad to keep you entertained.”

  “Ah, sorry. Sorry.” He let out a breath and looked back at me, his eyes back to their original creepiness. “Of course they are weak. They’re also expendable and know nothing. Whatever he told you was useless.”

  “You mean how a bunch of beings made you? Or about how you created those weak ass men? I would think you would make stronger men.”

  He chuckled. “Those men serve their purpose. Just like you serve a purpose.”

  I stood up. “I’m not one to be used.”

  He smiled. “No, I think not. That’s why I want to make a deal with you. You’re strong. And you’re wasting your talents with those beings you’re hanging out with. Come with me.”

  “I’ll pass. I like who I am now.”

  “But you’ll like who you will become if you are with me.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Strong,” he lowered his voice with a fevered passion. “Strong enough to not have to rely on anyone. You won’t have to feel that emptiness within you, or the hopelessness you feel when you look at your friend. I can see it in you. The way you look, the way you fight. The way you move. You are a predator, and I can help make sure you never feel incapable again.”

  It was my turn to laugh this time. And for the pedestrians to look at me like I was the crazy one. When I finally finished up, I wiped away my watery eyes and looked at Baron. I couldn’t even hate him. He was so damn right. There was something attractive about his proposition.

  “And the emptiness? Can you and your little promises fix that?”

  “I won’t lie to you. I can’t give you everything. That emptiness is something you’ll need to fix on your own.”

  I moved until I was standing in front of him. I placed my hand on top of his head, grabbed a handful of thick brown hair and yanked his head up until his face strained to look at me. He didn’t look pissed or scared. He didn’t look like anything. Just empty. The same hollowness that existed within me. I hated him even more for being so similar to me. I didn’t want him to be like me. He was the bad guy, not me.

  “If I join you, I lose what little bit I managed to fill up the emptiness. I’m not in search of the cure all for my problems. Shit, there is so much shit wrong with me that I’ll never be able to fix it all, but these people, the ones you want to wipe out, they are helping. And I won’t let you destroy the little bit of happiness I managed to find.”

  “I don’t want to fight against you.”

  I smirked. “Why? Are you afraid of me?”

  “Of you? No. When I see talent, I want it. But I won’t force you. You don’t look like the type to give in to any threats or torture. If you don’t want to be a part of this, then I won’t drag you into it.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  He didn’t say anything for a long time. I thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he did and it wasn’t anything I expected, not the desolation in his voice, not the words that he said. He took me off guard. “I hurt. I hurt every day. I just want to end it.”

  “And they’ll do that for you?” I asked. “That doesn’t make sense. You’re throwing what amounts to a tantrum.”

  “Does it?” He tilted his head to the side, contemplating what I’d said before blinking and shaking his head, forcing me to let him go. “Maybe so, but either way, the facts are the facts. I’m not supposed to exist. They took parts and stitched me together and then when I didn’t meet their needs, tossed me aside.”

  “You’re angry.”

  “What I feel is deeper than anger.” He stood up. “I’ll give you time to think about my offer. But not for long.”

  “You don’t hate me?”

  He tilted his head to the side as if I’d just asked him a weird question. “I have nothing against you, why would I hate you? Besides, you’re the only one immune to me. It makes things so much fun.”

  “Immune? To what?”

  He grinned and looked at my stomach where the wound he repeatedly gave me used to be. “I didn’t do that just to make you hurt. I wanted control, but your body fought me off so easily.”

  A tinge of coldness washed over me as he laughed and walked away, disappearing into the crowd. The man was absolutely crazy. I thought I was crazy, but damn, he took the gold medal on that one. Maybe I had to up my game.

  I stood there for a few moments then turned, continuing my slow walk through the blazing heat.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I remember identical twin boy-children. One holding onto his brother as he bled out. They were both crying, refusing to understand what was happening to them. They were children, weak. I remember patching up the hurt one, healing him. They were weak but they still had the right to live.

  —Nyssa’s Journal

&nbs
p; “I met a crazy man,” I said to Maura as she walked into Cecil’s room.

  She paused, probably waiting for me to continue but that was the gist of the story. Baron really was a crazy man, and for some reason, he liked me.

  I turned back to Cecil. She still looked the same as the first day I saw her. They truly did put her in a state that stopped the progression of the poison. Cecil was never one to care about her appearance, but even she would balk at the state of her body.

  “Okay. Who is this crazy man?”

  “Baron.”

  “Baron?” She came further into the room, walking to the other side of the bed so she could face me. Her eyes were hard when they met mine. Angry. “You met with Baron?”

  I nodded. “Out on the streets. I guess he was just strolling around.”

  “Just strolling?” she whispered. Something dangerous flashed in her eyes, and for the first time, I wondered if she only excelled at defensive magic. With her experience and knowledge, she had to have some good attack spells in her repertoire. I wouldn’t be surprised. “What happened?”

  “We chatted.”

  “Chatted?”

  “Why do you keep repeating what I say?”

  “Probably because Baron is public enemy number one right now. He’s on everyone’s short list and you just saw him strolling around on the streets. Did you at least try to apprehend him?”

  I tilted my head to the side as I took in her anger. “You want me to attack him in the middle of the streets with hundreds of people around us? Do you want others to die?”

  “I’m sure you can control yourself.”

  I smiled, though it wasn’t a friendly one. I flashed my teeth, reminding her that I was a predator. “If I fought Baron then and there, people would have died. A lot of people. That’s why he approached in such a public area. He knew I wouldn’t attack.”

  She sneered. “Please. Don’t act like you care about other people.” Her face was dark with anger and magic. I stood up, feeling her magic grow agitated with her mood.